Fall Weekend Activities

It has been an absolutely picture perfect fall weekend. Cool nights and mornings with days that warm up to low to mid 70's. All the animals seem to sense the impending cold weather and are frantically feeding on berries and available insects. Most of the berries on the dogwood trees in the yard have been picked clean by the Robin's in just a couple of days.

On my walk Saturday, I encountered several hawks (my favorite bird). They were busy hunting for whatever they could find. Some were successful, others not so much. I believe the hawk in the tree was a young one. It was smaller in size than an adult and it stayed fairly close for an extended period of time which was not something an adult would do. Further in the walk, this adult was watching for prey in the marsh and quickly flew away as we walked over the bridge.

Within the last two weeks, the deer at the house have taken a distinct liking to the Hosta. Even though it is quickly going down for the winter, I still do not want them to get in the bed and paw at the plants. I decided to try and lure them away tempting them with some deer corn and "deer chow". Saturday night around 10 pm, I looked out the window and two bucks were devouring the "deer chow" and licking the mineral block. This morning around 4:30, Ali was barking like the world was coming to an end. When I came in to the room where she was, I looked out the window and five deer were in the front yard.

So tonight, I am going to do a bit of an experiment. I have placed a dish of the chow/corn mix, a tray of corn and a tray of acorns I swept off the deck and off the top of the house. Someone I work with told me that acorns are one of deers favorite foods. We will see. I have placed the trays about 10 feet apart. I am going to attempt some photos even though they will be nothing more than silohouette. The streetlights should provide enough to make an attempt.

If I am successful, I will post a couple of pix. No guarantee of the quality.